09 P3 vs. 08 P3C?

Triathlon Forum
1

Hey twitchers,

I did a rather extensive (although not exhaustive, so I apologize) search, and couldn’t find anything regarding any differences between the 08 and 09 P3s. Are there any differences other than name and colour? Additionally, has anybody taken a P3 from the road to the track before? Anything I should know before I attempt this conversion?

Thanks everyone!

2

I saw a team on P3s at the Olympics/worlds last year on the boards so it can be done! Possibly Canada?

3

has anybody taken a P3 from the road to the track before? Anything I should know before I attempt this conversion?

There are three issues you’ll need to deal with when using a P3 as a track bike (assuming, of course, that we’re not talking about the track-specific version):

  1. rear triangle spacing (135 mm on derailleur-equipped bikes, but only 120 mm on track bikes),

  2. chainline, and

  3. length of drop-outs.

The first will require a longer axle and/or some additional spacers to make the track hub fit the greater width of the road frame.

The second will require experimenting with spacers behind the fixed cog and/or b.b. cup, and/or with different b.b. spindles, cranks, etc., to achieve an acceptable line.

Finally, the third will tend to restrict the number of different cog and chainring combinations you will be able to use, at least without breaking (“cutting”) the chain.

Bottomline, what you propose is indeed possible, and many have done it (e.g., before the P2T came out my wife raced a P2k on the track). It isn’t, however, the sort of conversion you want to have to make more than a couple of times a year (at least, I wouldn’t).

www.businesscycles.com has some handy reference materials that may help you get everything sorted…

4

Thanks so much, Andrew! Those were some of the specific questions I had. I’ll give that site a look.

And regarding the team on P3s, they were probably the track-specific P3s that Cervelo makes. Also an option, but I want a bike I can use on the road and sometimes the track, not just the track.

5

130mm for road, 135mm for MTB

A guy I know got hold of an old screw on disc, got a track stepdown converter, and whacked it into a P3-SL, so easily doable that way. But obviously you have to worry about dropout length, yep

Xav

6

130mm for road, 135mm for MTB
Sorry - I was thinking of our 145 mm spaced tandem, into which I’d like to be able to put our 120- or 130-mm spaced Zipp disk.

7

Regarding spec differences between '08 and '09 … the fork was an on-the-fly change during '08. Eariler shipments in 08 shipped with Wolf forks and later ones shipped with the 3T Funda. In '09, all P3s come with a 3T Funda which is a very nice fork IMHO.

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